The present invention relates to electrical plugs. In particular, this invention relates to electrical plugs capable of being easily removed from their associated receptacles with the aid of a pull ring.
Pull rings are fairly commonplace for small items such as electrical plugs. They make easier the removal of the electrical plugs from their inserted positions. The pull ring for an electrical plug usually rotates or pivots from a locked or storage position that is disposed around the rim of the plug to its working position located vertically above the plug center.
Several disadvantages are known for the use of these typical pull rings. To allow the rotational or pivotal movement about the plug, a pull ring is limited in its width or its diameter. Metallic materials (e.g., hardened metallic wires) are usually used for such rings because of their ability to withstand the pulling force required to remove the plug from its inserted receptacle. Although they do serve the plug removal function, the thin diameter of these metallic pull rings tends to cause the rings to sink into the pulling fingers and make the finger-pulling action painful and therefore extremely unpleasant. Also, over time, consistent uses of these metallic pull rings may present users with the danger of electric shocks.
Another disadvantage is the difficulty due to the ring""s thinness as one unlocks and rotates the ring to prepare for use from its storage position to its operating position especially when the plug is located in a setting that is hard to reach and see. Rambling manipulation of the pull rings in such difficult spots is both challenging and frustrating. The same difficulty goes to the reverse process as one rotates the pull ring from its operating position back to its locking position. Yet another disadvantage for the typical pull rings is that they are fixedly attached to their plugs. In this manner, it makes life cumbersome for those who work with the plugs but do not prefer the use of pull rings.
Thus, there is a continuing need for an improved pull ring for an electrical plug where the pull ring is easily stored, readied, removed, comfortably used and all without the risk of electrical shock.
The present invention is an electrical plug having a plug body that has a prong side, a generally flat side opposite to the prong side and a side surface connecting the two sides. Two channels recessed into the side surface perpendicular to the two sides, disposed generally opposite to each other on the plug body, and these channels are configured in a way to receive two T-shaped tongues, one in each channel, whereby allowing the tongues to slide inside the channels. These T-shaped tongues are connected and joined into a pull ring by a connecting piece, this piece making with the tongues two angles each being equal to or greater than 90 degrees. The connecting piece may be arc-shaped and having a length that generally runs across the generally flat side.
The pull ring is preferably made of hardened plastics with some elasticity. Therefore, when the connecting piece is pushed toward the prong side, the T-shaped tongues slide in the channels toward the prong side into its storage position, and if pulled into the operating position, the tongues slide in the channels toward the generally flat side. The channels are configured in a way such that the T-shaped tongues can move freely inside but cannot be pulled out of there in a direction perpendicular to and away from the prong side because of a stop placed in each channel near the generally flat side.
When the connecting piece is pushed in a direction perpendicular to and toward the prong side into its storage position, the T-shaped tongues slide through the entire length of the channels, stopped by the junctures where the tongues and the connecting piece of the pull ring meet, and the heads of the tongues extrude out of the channels on the prong side. Any extra force applied to the connecting piece toward the prong side to remove the pull ring from the plug will cause the heads of the tongues to swing in a direction generally parallel to and away from the prong side whereby allowing the tongues to move out of the channels.